Well Gooners… The wait is at long last over.
Champions League football is finally back for us Gooners and boy has it been missed.
For me there is nothing like going to the Emirates on a cold winters night to watch Europe’s best come to London…. Brings a shiver down the spine, the teams coming out to the champions league theme…Amazing.
So tomorrow night we see our beloved Arsenal welcome Monaco in this the first leg of the last 16. And it’s the home side that is looking to make it past this stage of the competition for the first time in 5 years.
Lets not forget it’s the Gunners who have qualified for the knockout stage of Europe’s premier club competition for the 15th time in a row and will no doubt start this tie as favorites, However we should take nothing away from Monaco who will be arriving in London with a very good record of their own. With Leonardo Jardims side having lost only one of their last 17 games.
Monaco should also have a spring in their step after securing a 1-0 derby victory at Nice on Friday despite playing with 10 men for 45 minutes following Aymen Abdennour's dismissal. That victory - which moved Leonardo Jardim's men up to fourth in Ligue 1.
The player who stands out the most for us Gooners to watch out for is Monaco’s forward and ex Tottenham favorite Dimitar Berbatov.
Other news is that Monaco may have both Belgian winger Yannick Carrasco (thigh) and France defender Layvin Kurzawa (bruised quadriceps) missing through injury. Striker Lacina Traore (fractured tibia) is definitely out and captain Jeremy Toulalan misses out due to suspension.
While Arsenal will still be with out Aaron Ramsey (hamstring), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (groin), Mikel Arteta (ankle) and Mathieu Debuchy (shoulder).
OPTA STATS
Wenger and Monaco
Wenger spent seven years in charge of the Ligue 1 club after taking over in 1987, and Monaco were crowned French champions in his first season at the helm.
Wenger also won the Coupe de France during his successful spell in Monaco before moving on to Japanese club Nagoya Grampus Eight.
Wenger will come up against injury-hit Monaco for the first time since leaving the club in the first leg on Wednesday and the Arsenal boss admitted he was taken aback when the draw was made.
"To be honest it was a surprise, because I always expect the most prestigious team to come out against us - that has happened the last five or six years,” he told Uefa’s official website.
"It's also one of those strange coincidences in life, because between them these two clubs account for 25 years of my life. That's very unusual, to meet in the Champions League. It was a little bit of an emotional shock."
Coops top Tips
Well Gooners I am going to keep this one very simple. I am going for An Arsenal win. Winning both at half time and full time. And I am also going for Özil and Giroud AND Alexis as anytime scorers for the Gunners. We should win this one big but at the end of the day I am going to take any kind of a win…Id love a good 4-0 5-0, wouldn’t we all…. but be more than happy with a scrappy 1-0
My starting 11
My starting 11 would be as follows
OOOOOOOOOOOSPINAAAAAA in goal
Chambers Kosicelny Mertesacker Bellerin
Coquelin and Cazorla
Welbeck Özil Alexis
Giroud
Cheer loud and cheer proud…. “IM ARSENAL TILL I DIE”
Written by @ccooperuk
Champions League football is finally back for us Gooners and boy has it been missed.
For me there is nothing like going to the Emirates on a cold winters night to watch Europe’s best come to London…. Brings a shiver down the spine, the teams coming out to the champions league theme…Amazing.
So tomorrow night we see our beloved Arsenal welcome Monaco in this the first leg of the last 16. And it’s the home side that is looking to make it past this stage of the competition for the first time in 5 years.
Lets not forget it’s the Gunners who have qualified for the knockout stage of Europe’s premier club competition for the 15th time in a row and will no doubt start this tie as favorites, However we should take nothing away from Monaco who will be arriving in London with a very good record of their own. With Leonardo Jardims side having lost only one of their last 17 games.
Monaco should also have a spring in their step after securing a 1-0 derby victory at Nice on Friday despite playing with 10 men for 45 minutes following Aymen Abdennour's dismissal. That victory - which moved Leonardo Jardim's men up to fourth in Ligue 1.
The player who stands out the most for us Gooners to watch out for is Monaco’s forward and ex Tottenham favorite Dimitar Berbatov.
Other news is that Monaco may have both Belgian winger Yannick Carrasco (thigh) and France defender Layvin Kurzawa (bruised quadriceps) missing through injury. Striker Lacina Traore (fractured tibia) is definitely out and captain Jeremy Toulalan misses out due to suspension.
While Arsenal will still be with out Aaron Ramsey (hamstring), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (groin), Mikel Arteta (ankle) and Mathieu Debuchy (shoulder).
OPTA STATS
- This is the first ever competitive meeting between Arsenal and Monaco.
- Arsenal are the only team, alongside Real Madrid, to have reached the knockout stages of the Champions League in every season since the new format in 2003/04. They have however been knocked out in the last 16 in each of the last four seasons.
- Auxerre are the last French team to beat Arsenal, in the 2002/03 Champions League group stages (2-1 at Highbury).
- Arsenal haven’t conceded a single goal at the Emirates in three Champions League games against French opposition.
- Monaco have gone through against English clubs in their last three knockout encounters: in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup quarter finals v Newcastle, in the 1997/98 Champions League quarter finals v Manchester United and in the 2003/04 Champions League semi-finals v Chelsea.
- Monaco are the last French team to reach the final of the Champions League. It was in 2004 when they lost 3-0 to Jose Mourinho’s Porto.
Wenger and Monaco
Wenger spent seven years in charge of the Ligue 1 club after taking over in 1987, and Monaco were crowned French champions in his first season at the helm.
Wenger also won the Coupe de France during his successful spell in Monaco before moving on to Japanese club Nagoya Grampus Eight.
Wenger will come up against injury-hit Monaco for the first time since leaving the club in the first leg on Wednesday and the Arsenal boss admitted he was taken aback when the draw was made.
"To be honest it was a surprise, because I always expect the most prestigious team to come out against us - that has happened the last five or six years,” he told Uefa’s official website.
"It's also one of those strange coincidences in life, because between them these two clubs account for 25 years of my life. That's very unusual, to meet in the Champions League. It was a little bit of an emotional shock."
Coops top Tips
Well Gooners I am going to keep this one very simple. I am going for An Arsenal win. Winning both at half time and full time. And I am also going for Özil and Giroud AND Alexis as anytime scorers for the Gunners. We should win this one big but at the end of the day I am going to take any kind of a win…Id love a good 4-0 5-0, wouldn’t we all…. but be more than happy with a scrappy 1-0
My starting 11
My starting 11 would be as follows
OOOOOOOOOOOSPINAAAAAA in goal
Chambers Kosicelny Mertesacker Bellerin
Coquelin and Cazorla
Welbeck Özil Alexis
Giroud
Cheer loud and cheer proud…. “IM ARSENAL TILL I DIE”
Written by @ccooperuk